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Raboin nominated for Lowe's Senior CLASS Award

St. Cloud State University defenseman Garrett Raboin (Detroit Lakes, Minn.) is one of 20 NCAA® hockey student-athletes who were tabbed as candidates today for the 2009-10 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence -classroom, character, community and competition.

A three-year team captain for the Huskies, Raboin gained All-WCHA honors in 2008-09 for his play at the blueline. He has earned WCHA Scholar-Athlete honors twice during his collegiate career and he has also been selected to the All-WCHA Academic squad as a sophomore and junior. Last winter, Raboin ranked third in scoring for the Huskies with a career-high 10 goals, 23 assists and 33 points. At St. Cloud State, Raboin has posted 13 goals and 46 assists during his career with the Huskies.

Raboin joins former SCSU skaters Nate Raduns (2007) and Marty Mjelleli (2008) as candidates for the prestigious Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. Raboin is one of four candidates for the award this season from the WCHA.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

Lowe's, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award winner at the NCAA Men's Frozen Four® in April.

The 20 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of classroom, character, community and competition.

"I am always amazed at the commitment to academics, athletics and community that our nominees in hockey demonstrate each year," said Tom Lamb, Lowe's senior vice president of marketing. "This year's student-athletes have reached new heights in their concerns for a better community, their stellar work in the classroom and their numerous achievements on the field of competition."

This marks the fourth year for the ice hockey division of the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. Michigan State University goaltender Jeff Lerg received the award for the 2008-09 season and Princeton University center Landis Stankievech took home the 2007-08 honor. In 2006-07, University of Notre Dame goaltender David

Brown won the inaugural men's hockey award.

ABOUT THE AWARD

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award honors the attributes of senior student-athletes in four areas: classroom, community, character and competition. The award program is designed exclusively for college seniors who are utilizing their complete athletic eligibility, remaining committed to their university and pursuing the many rewards that a senior season can bring. Sportscaster Dick Enberg, Honorary Chairman of the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, first conceived the idea of an award for seniors in 2001 in response to the growing trend of men's basketball players leaving school early for the NBA. The award program has expanded the past two years to include a total of nine NCAA® Division I sports - football, men's and women's soccer, men's ice hockey, men's lacrosse, baseball and softball in addition to men's and women's basketball.